Meal delivery cart

Abstract

An improved meal delivery system and a method for delivery of pre-cooked, chilled meals from a central distribution station to a plurality of remote locations in cooperation with an Automatic Guided Vehicle system, and in particular a one-piece, molded, insulated meal-delivery cart for transportation of chilled meals.

Description

1. Field of the InventionThis invention relates to an improved meal delivery system and to a method for delivery of pre-cooked, chilled meals from a central distribution station to a plurality of remote locations, and in particular to a one-piece, molded, insulated meal delivery cart for transportation of chilled meals in cooperation with an Automatic Guided Vehicle (henceforth "AGV") system.2. Prior ArtOur population continues to increase and age at a rapid rate. Many people are now confined in, cared for, or work in large institutions and government-sponsored operations, such as prison facilities, mental health facilities, hospitals, and military bases. One notable demographic trend is a marked increase in the number and size of prison facilities in the last twenty years. The greatly increased physical size of prison facilities and the unprecedented increase in the number of inmates housed in them has created many new challenges, including how to provide a large number of persons ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

Each enclosure is a single molded unit. Similarly, each door is a single molded unit and, because each door is manufactured from the same mold, each door is identical to the other. Accordingly, the enclosure and doors require only two molds--one enclosure mold and one door mold--which facilitates the manufacturing process and makes replacements for broken or defective enclosures or doors readily available. The enclosure and doors are manufactured using high-impact polyethylene making them durable, impervious to water, and less amenable to absorption of solar radiation. The enclosure and chassis together weigh approximately 1,500 pounds empty, 3,500 full, making them considerably more maneuverable.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a meal delivery cart having smooth exterior surfaces and having easy to clean interior and exterior surfaces.

Problems solved by technology

The greatly increased physical size of prison facilities and the unprecedented increase in the number of inmates housed in them has created many new challenges, including how to provide a large number of persons with proper daily meals reliably.

In these facilities, the difficulty of providing meals for the inhabitants is exacerbated.

Such a one-kitchen-for-each-unit configuration presents unique logistical problems, requires staffing redundancies, and is very expensive to maintain.

Indeed, new construction of facilities incorporating a kitchen in each separate housing unit can be prohibitively expensive.

Expense notwithstanding, it is an undesirable inefficiency.

Any delays between cooking and service allow the hot portions of prepared meals to cool, the cool portions to warm, and the entire meal to become stale, posing a potentially serious health risk.

Prior art meal delivery carts suffer numerous disadvantages, including being very heavy, each weighing as much as 3,500 pounds empty.

They are difficult to maneuver and experience frequent, expensive breakdowns.

Cleaning the carts with water damages the heating elements and the compressor.

Numerous moving parts create a litany of maintenance issues.

For example, outwardly swinging doors require frequent repair.

Accumulated mechanical problems associated with prior art carts have been known to take as much as thirty percent of the carts out of service at any time.

Maintenance issues aside, in normal use of prior art meal delivery carts, once meals are cooked and prepared in the central kitchen, hot portions are placed in the heated compartment and cold and cool portions placed in the refrigeration compartment of each cart for transportation to the housing units.

Prior art food delivery carts are poorly insulated, allowing meals to warm or overheat quickly on hot days.

Meals left for too long in the heated compartments dry out.

Meals left for too long in either compartment deteriorate and become stale.

An additional complicating factor is that any vehicle used for delivering food or other products is subject to tampering, abuse, and simple neglect.

Particularly in a penal institution, tampering is of real concern because the path of the cart may take it through various areas in which it is unattended.

Purchasing new carts is expensive, costing approximately $18,000 for each new cart.

Unfortunately, prior art food delivery carts do not readily lend themselves to delivery of cook-chilled meals.

A further problem is the lack of heating and refrigeration facilities in each housing unit.

The roof of the enclosure is slanted at a steepness which does not allow objects to be placed on it.

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